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  • Essay / Development of Chinatown in New York

    When people talk about Chinese food and culture, Chinatown is also the place they will mention. There are many types of stores and restaurants that they can explore and find interesting things. Nowadays, there are three main areas which are also called enclaves in New York for Chinese people to settle. But they are totally different with the stereotype of the old Chinatown which was an isolated, homogeneous and hierarchical community. Flushing is the largest in Queens, Eighth Avenue is another in Brooklyn, and the most famous Chinatown in downtown Manhattan. They became colonies for the Chinese for different reasons and at different times. Also, between these three areas, even though they are similar, they still have a lot of differences. Like languages, people's hometowns, etc. Among them, the one in Manhattan is the oldest and has a longer history than two others. As described in the chapter Chinese: Divergent Fates in Immigrant New York: The traveler got off the train in Flushing with other passengers who were mostly Asian. Flushing is now known as the Chinatown of Queens. A traveler taking the N train to Brooklyn and getting off at Eighth Avenue exits the subway station and discovers what appears to be a street in China. This is Brooklyn's Chinatown. But today, the Chinese population of Queens and Brooklyn exceeds that of Manhattan. In this research paper, I would like to discuss the growth process of these three districts and some information about these legendary areas. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay First of all, we should find out the reason why Chinatown was created. There were three main waves of Chinese immigrants. Chinese traders and sailors began flocking to the United States in the mid-18th century; while this population was largely transient, a small number remained in New York and married. The first wave occurred in the years 1840 to 1943. At that time, the California Gold Rush and other work opportunities were the main reasons why Chinese people chose to come to America. Because Chinese immigrant workers provided cheap labor and did not use any government infrastructure since the Chinese migrant population was predominantly made up of healthy male adults, opposition to the exclusion grew. produced in California in the early 1850s because Chinese immigrants were significant taxpayers when both. the state and localities were experiencing significant budgetary difficulties. The state's attempts to legislate exclusion only succeeded after financial conditions improved in the late 1850s. The government then moved to ban immigration from China. This was the background to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was the first and only to ban a certain group of people solely on the basis of their race. The second wave ran from 1943 to 1980. A lot happened for Chinese immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which allowed only a national quota of 105 Chinese immigrants per year, was repealed by the Magnuson Act of 1943, at a time when China had become an ally of the United States against Japan during World War II, the United States needed to embody an image. of equity and justice. This was the main reason for a new wave of massive immigration at that time. The last wave took place from 1980 to the present. The reasons arebecome different from those of 100 years ago. At this point, new immigrants come more for education or investment, not just money. Chinatown was established during the first wave of Chinese immigrants and then continued to grow until today. Beginning in the mid-19th century, Chinese arrived in significant numbers, drawn to the Pacific coast of the United States by stories of "Gold Mountain." ' California during the Gold Rush of the 1840s and 1850s and brought by certain agents called labor brokers to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Most arrived hoping to work for a few years and earn enough money to return to China, build a house and get married. Usually, the labor broker would find and organize people who wanted to make a lot of money in an easy way. Then the agents sent them by boat. Most of them who left for America usually boarded the ships in Canton. They often had to arrive in San Francisco, California. It would take more than two months to connect China to America. At that time, conditions on the ship were terrible and many people died en route to America. But the gold rush didn't last long. After that, the Chinese found another way to survive and make money: being the builders of the Central Pacific Railroad. At that time, many white people were unable to find jobs and so chose to blame the Chinese for “taking the jobs.” In fact, large-scale employees welcomed the Chinese worker as cheaper, more reliable, and sometimes even more productive than his white competitors. Then, the Chinese Exclusion Act signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese workers. After the law was put into practice, as the gold mines began to produce less and the railroad was nearly completed, the wide availability of cheap, willing Chinese labor in industries such as Cigar manufacturing and textile manufacturing became a source of tension for white workers, who believed the Chinese were coming to take their jobs and threaten their livelihoods. Mob violence and endemic discrimination in the West pushed Eastern Chinese toward larger cities, where job opportunities were more open and they could more easily blend into an already diverse population. The Chinese Exclusion Act brought rigidity not only to Chinese alone but also to Caucasians and other races, and this lasted for about thirty years. The American economy suffered a great loss as a result of this law. Some sources cite the law as a sign of injustice and unfair treatment towards Chinese workers, as the jobs they held were mostly menial jobs. As a staging area for Chinese immigration, Chinatown was the safest and most convenient area for Chinese people at that time. This is how the Chinatown began to be established. In the beginning, although Chinatown was the best place for Chinese people to live at that time, there were also problems and problems. The biggest was “The Bachelor’s Society”. The already lopsided gender ratio in Chinatown was radically worsened by the Exclusion Act, and by 1900 there were only 40 to 150 women for every more than 7,000 Chinese living in Manhattan. This altered and unnatural social landscape in Chinatown led to its role as Bachelor's Society with rumors of opium dens, prostitution and slave girls deepening, 2011.